Okinawa Elects Conservative Governor in Victory for Japan's Hawkish Leadership

On the southern edge of Japan's archipelago, where history and geopolitics converge with unusual intensity, Okinawa has chosen a new direction. Genta Koja's gubernatorial victory hands Tokyo's hawkish prime minister a crucial regional ally, signaling that anxieties over China's expanding presence have reshaped the electoral calculus of a prefecture long ambivalent about its role in Japan's defense architecture. It is a moment that reveals how the abstract language of great-power competition can become deeply personal for those who live closest to its potential consequences.